• “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” George Bernard Shaw

• “I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” Will Rogers

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• “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free!” P. J. O’Rourke

• “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” Mark Twain (1866)

• “The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.” Ronald Reagan

• “What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.” Edward Langley, artist (1928-1995)

• “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” Thomas Jefferson

To sum it up:

1. One cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. One cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation!

Can you think of a reason for not sharing this?

Neither could I.

Christine Olson

Deerwood

Looking for

citizen input

I invite local citizens to participate in a survey I am conducting to gather input on everything from the state budget to gun laws.

It is amazing how many emails I recently have received from citizens concerned about House proposals which would restrict gun rights. More people are contacting me about this subject than any other so far this session. The vast majority of emailers are urging me to protect their Second Amendment rights.

Our legislative office building was packed with people delivering the same message recently during three days of gun-related legislative hearings. This is a grass-roots effort led by people who do not want the new majority to infringe on our constitutional rights. I spent time meeting with some of the citizens who were gathered and came away impressed with the courteous, respectful dialogue.

Citizen input on this issue is greatly appreciated but it is concerning the new majority would focus on limiting our Second Amendment rights instead of working to enact a new state budget, help people get back to work and grow our economy.

There are a few people on the pro-restriction side of the gun discussion who seem to think the National Rifle Association is a major player on this issue but that simply is not the case. I have not met with NRA officials or received any contributions from the group. In fact, the NRA has contributed relatively little to legislative campaigns in Minnesota. Here is some interesting perspective from a Star Tribune article printed Feb. 4: Between 2008 and 2012, the NRA spent just $5,240 on Minnesota legislative races. In 2012, the liberal group Alliance for a Better Minnesota spent $144,365 to defeat a single legislative candidate in Edina.

As for the proposed gun laws, I encourage citizens to visit www.house.mn to see some of what the new majority is proposing. We all want to keep guns out of the wrong hands but it cannot come at the expense of restricting gun ownership for law-abiding Minnesotans. The last thing we should want is to strip guns from the good folks. People in parts of the state like ours have a deep respect for the Second Amendment and I will continue working to uphold it.

More gun-related bills are being introduced in the House and more details of a full package of bills will be available in upcoming weeks. Until then, please continue to exercise your voice for freedom and let the gun-restriction authors know their proposals to encroach on our rights are unacceptable. And, again, please participate in my legislative survey. I will share the results later this session. You can email me at rep.mark.anderson@house.mn.

State Rep. Mark Anderson

R-East Gull Lake

Here’s the

way I see it

All around this country and in the federal government legislative bodies are meeting to iron out their problems on gun control. Half the country wants the right to have any kind of gun they choose, because at some point they are going to have to fight the Army that is coming to take their guns. Not sure how a Bushmaster stacks up against an Abrams tank but be that as it may be. Also, having a big iron on your hip makes you safe. Not sure how that helps when you are assassinated but be that as it may be also.

The other half seems to think that if we link hands around the campfire and sing Kumbaya we will all settle down and live peacefully ever after. That hunting anything is a sin and if we would all just eat more seaweed and kelp, no one would need guns. All people who do have guns need special license plates and an asterisk in the phone book by their names but the names of the criminally insane that want guns must be protected.

The criminally insane need to be integrated into our society and trusted to be good and take their pills and join the Kumbaya group and not the gun group. Any attempt to treat or commit people who will not cooperate, is a violation of their rights. So we register all of the gun owners because that’s OK but not the mentally ill people who want guns because that’s against their rights.

I’m done. Good luck with this.

Mike Holst

Crosslake

Spending is the problem

Governor Dayton does not see that spending and the liberal “Welfare policies” are the cause of Minnesota’s economic problem, not the tax cuts. Look back at the way the sales tax has increased from when it was originally introduced many years ago. Then look at the way we dole out food stamps, free property taxes to any vet saying he has any sort of disability, and now there is proposed legislation to offer no Minnesota income taxes to vet’s retirement pay.

We have to stop the spending governor!

The latest request into the Minnesota state coffers is a request from the Mayo Clinic to give them $500 million dollars to help pay for their expansion. Maybe they took a page from the Vikings stadium playbook when thinking of where to find the Golden Fleece.

Since the state money requested is really money we paid in as taxes, it only should make sense that we all benefit from the use of those monies. But...the Mayo Clinic is a non-participating provider of Medicare or Medicaid. This means we are on our own to pay the difference if we go there. I guess this is the reason only legislators and governors, presidents and foreign millionaires seem to be able to afford to go here. It’s like an exclusive country club that I’d rather not have my taxes go to support.

There are two sides to a balanced budget. The tax side that the current government seems to always want to increase, and the spending side that seems to be the red-headed stepchild that keeps getting ignored.

I've worked at the Brainerd Dispatch with various duties since Dec. 7, 1983. Starting off as an Ad Designer and currently Director of Audience Development. The Dispatch has been an interesting and challenging place to work. I'm fortunate to have made many friends, both co-workers and customers.